you.” Her hand pet the top of his head.
“I look ridiculous in this outfit and it feels tight. I think it might be cutting off some circulation.” One of his back legs was feeling a bit numb.
“You’re not playing wight.” Her bottom lip pouted.
“I’m sorry, but I really must be on my way now.”
“Okay.” She picked him up, still not steadily.
“I can walk you know. In fact, I can walk and talk at the same time.” He hoped she would drop him but she didn’t until he was brought to the porch. “I still haven’t figured out how to talk and chew gum though. Maneuvering words around not only my snaggletooth but also gum is—”
“Bye, bye, kitty.” She waved.
“Wait, can you take off this silly dress first?”
“It’s a gift to you from me.” A kiss was blown, then the door shut.
Pussface’s back legs dragged along Idis’s wooden floors. The tight dress made half of his body numb. “I need this terrible contraption to be taken off me as soon as possible, otherwise I’ll have to go to the vet and have my legs fixed,” he grumbled, while sliding into the living room to where the witch sat on her green velvet couch, as usual.
“What’s this?” Idis stood in surprise. “Like I said earlier, you aren’t taking this job seriously.” She glared at the homely cat. “What have you been doing?”
Pussface dragged himself closer to her. “Please, just take it off.”
“Hee hee he .” She laughed at the sight. “You are literally a drag queen. Get it? Not only are you wearing a dress, which isn’t your color by the way, you have to drag yourself around. Hee hee he.”
“It’s cutting off my circulation. Please!” he begged.
After finally getting it off, the use of his legs slowly came back and Idis became more serious. “Tomorrow you will go through the other half of the neighborhood you didn’t get to yet.” She sat back down on the couch and pulled a boot off, exposing a gnarly toe poking out through her red sock. “Then there will be no failing in finding Surla. She couldn’t have gone far. I need my magic. I am tired of doing everything the hard way.” She yanked and yanked at her other boot until finally getting it free. That revealed an even bigger gnarly toe sticking through her socks. “If you fail, Pusface , you won’t know what hit you!” She threw the boot down hard on the floor for emphasis.
“I know. It’s the perfect plan,” Pussface heard while balancing on a tree branch, high enough to see the back of a blond girl, talking on the phone through a second story window. “She has changed so much. You would think someone took over her body.”
“Someone else taking over her body?” the scroungy cat repeated to himself. “This could be a good clue.”
“Yes, she’ll get what she deserves.” The girl laid back on her bed. “Trying to make me look bad. I know. What a tramp. I bet she thinks every guy in school likes her.” She paused. “Well, all the guys do like me.” There was another pause, then laughter. “This should teach her to not be so catty.”
Catty? Pussface listened. His orange eyes glowed through the window. Who is this girl she’s speaking of? He was more than curious to know; he needed to know.
“I’m wondering about Chrissy , though,” she continued. “You can tell she feels sorry for the nerd. I don’t think I should tell her. It will just be you, me, and Lisa that will know… Yeah, she’ll probably blab to Cathy.”
Cathy! I bet that’s the girl’s name . Pussface got excited and shifted his weight when suddenly the tree branch was breaking under him.
“Oh no!” he blurted and hugged the branch with all four legs. Right then it snapped, sending him into the bushes. He laid flat on his back, still holding the branch tight and spitting out a leaf.
“Who’s there?” the girl’s voice called.
Pussface used his last feeling of energy to bolt down the street. He turned, seeing half of the girl’s body
Fran Louise
Charlotte Sloan
Douglas E. Schoen, Melik Kaylan
Anonymous
Jocelynn Drake
Jo Raven
Julie Garwood
Debbie Macomber
Undenied (Samhain).txt
B. Kristin McMichael